


The Hand That Feeds You

by lunariaans



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Gang AU, Gen, Lots of stuff to come, Mafia AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunariaans/pseuds/lunariaans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He takes another bite from his plate, but he finds it hard to chew, hard to keep it down. He looks back at Kamui’s chair, Xander’s words ringing in his ears.</p>
<p>“Sit down,” he mimics, but there is no one there to hear him.</p>
<p>He laughs.</p>
<p>aka: When there's two powerful families competing for power, tensions grow high. They only grow worse when one tries to take a child from the other. Mafia/Gang AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Metal Clang of the Baseball Bat

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been working on for a couple of months but have been waiting to post. I want to see how this goes, if people like it, so please enjoy and thank you for reading.

Camilla likes the sound of a skull cracking beneath a bat.

It's satisfying, especially the first crack; it's louder and sicker than the rest, leaving her with a sense of contentment as her victim still struggles to maintain a grasp on the waking world. He writhed at first, when she had started the torturous task, but now he didn't seem to be able to move so much with the side of his head caving into his brains.

The other cracks after that one are not as good but are still just as special; sickly sweet and leaving her wanting more.

She swings down with the bat hard, her grip tightening around it until her knuckles turn ghostly white, and she no longer hears cracks but crunches instead. She was angry, and this man's face was the proof (if one could still call it a face).

There's another crunch as she swings down harder. She wasn't just angry- she was pissed.

"How dare you," she seethes, pushing the words out through gritted teeth. "Touch my darling sister."

She hits him again; his noises of protest and screams of agony had died long ago.

"You dirty-"

_Crunch._

"Dirty-"

_Crunch._

"Man."

_Ting._

The metal bat hits the asphalt of the ally instead; his skull completely crushed in. Blood pools around his head in a thick puddle that will never be washed away completely no matter how hard it rains or how hard the store owners try. Her once pretty and shiny silver bat is now painted a dark red and rusty color; his blood is splattered up the thing in beautiful patterns like some abstract piece of art. She's satisfied; she thinks it is a just punishment.

She throws the bat to the side and listens with a smile as it clangs hollowly against the ground. She peels off the gloves that adorn her hands, then pulls down the dark bandana from around her face, and frowns at the mess she's made of herself; blood sloshed all over the front of her pretty purple bandana and dark clothes, she can see flecks of it in her hair and can feel some on her face. She shoves the gloves into her jacket pockets, tossing her long braid back over her shoulder as she turns to face her siblings.

There's only three out of the four that she has standing in front of her, all younger and more impressionable, and naturally, they looked up to her as a big sister.

And she has just murdered a man in front of them.

Leo doesn't seem bothered and neither does Elise all that much, but the eldest child of those three, Corrin, just seems the slightest in shock; her lips are parted and her eyes are wide as she huddles close to Leo. He stands by without any emotion pertaining to the scene in front of him, offering no words of comfort or sympathy to his sibling.

She'd of thought that Elise, the youngest, would've been the most upset, but she had a flat expression almost on par with Leo's. She stands there looking almost bored with the scene, tugging on one of her blonde pigtails and pushing back the hood of her jacket. She places her hands in the pockets.

"Damn, Camilla," Leo finally says, a small smirk on his face as he steps towards the body. He squats down next to it, hands over knees, and looks it over. "You really did a number on this guy."

She smiles as he starts to dig around in the guy's pockets; she's pleased that her work has been praised but she turns back to her sister.

"I had to teach that man a lesson, didn't I?" She asks with a sarcastically sweet voice; it's like a thick honey dripping off her tongue. "No one hurts my sister and gets away with it."

"We could've just shot him."

"Where's the fun in that?"

She looks at Corrin and the girl's Crimson eyes dart away to the side.

"Are you okay, darling?"

Corrin hastily nods her head, eyes fixated on the body, leaving Camilla to wonder if she's ever been around when things happen like this. She often wasn't allowed out on expeditions with the rest of them, Father was much too overprotective of this particular child, but this incident hadn't been a planned hit.

Leo stands and brushes his hands together, rummaging through the items he's pulled from the man's pocket. "He was Hoshidan."

Camilla snorts, looking at the red surgical mask that was now lying in the pool of blood. "That was obvious."

He mocks her comment with the bob of his head as he opens up the man's wallet. 

"What'd you find in there, brother?" Elise asks, moving to stand next to Leo in an attempt to see for herself.  She reaches out a hand to take them.

He holds the items up and away from her; she jumps to try and reach them. He laughs as he puts a hand into the wallet and pulls something out.

"Here," he says, handing the girl a bill. "Just take the twenty dollars."

She happily plucks the money out from his hand, holding it up to the sky above while closing one eye in inspection. It seems real enough.

Corrin finally seems to get her voice back as she quietly steps up to her siblings; she doesn't take her eyes off the body.

"How do we know," she asks, eyes wide with something mixed between curiosity and apprehension. "That he was Hoshidan?"

Leo exchanges a look with Camilla as she thinks of what to say.

Was Corrin so in the dark about things that she did not know how to tell when a Hoshidan was in their territory? What a Hoshidan looked like? Had she really been that well protected?

"The colors he wears," Camilla explains, walking back over to the body and carefully stepping over it. She squats down next to it. "They wear warm colors, like trees in autumn."

She points to the surgical mask in the blood. "Usually red."

Corrin looks at her sister and she doesn't say anything.

"Nohrians don't wear these colors, we don't like people who do," she continues. "You won't see these colors anywhere on this side of town."

"You'd get your ass beat if you wear them here," Leo chimes in, pocketing the rest of the man's items. "I mean, just look at what Camilla did."

Camilla gives him a flat look. "I only did what was right. He tried to take our sister."

"And if he hadn't of, what would you of done?" he asks, crossing his arms?

She puts a finger to her cheek in a playfully thoughtful way. "I still would've beaten him. Just maybe a little less."

Leo gives her a "mhmm" and Elise just raises a brow. Corrin is still silent.

Camilla stands back up, once again carefully stepping back over the body. "Either way, he was an idiot for wearing those colors here. You'd think he'd be smart enough to try and blend in."

"Have you ever known a smart Hoshidan?" Leo questions.

"Never known any Hoshidan," Camilla answers.

And maybe that was the problem, the whole reason why there was conflict in the first place.

Leo hums his acknowledgement to the comment and sticks his hands into his pockets, turning around to walk away. "Let's leave."

The other three follow him out of the alley and back onto the street where two other members, part of Leo's faction, are standing guard.  They look up from their positions as the siblings come to a stop in front of them.

"Done already?" one asks, a sly grin spread across his face.  His companion, a recent addition, stands warily beside him.

"You know me, Niles," Camilla replies. "I don't like to drag things out."

Niles laughs.

"You're lucky Xander wasn't here," Leo breathes, once again pulling out the wallet and handing it to Niles. "He would've had a fit."

Indeed he would, but wouldn't he of done the same?

Camilla throws an arm around her dear brother's shoulders, the weight nearly knocking him off balance. "Which is why we're not gonna say anything about this to him, right?"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't say anything to him."

Camilla grins as she leans in real close to his ear, all eyes on them as they eagerly listen too.

"Remember last month, when you and your friends snuck off to the border?"

His body stiffens.

"I won't tell Xander about that if you don't tell him about this."

She laughs as he takes her arm and throws it off of him, his face slightly red with anger- or maybe it was embarrassment. He crosses his arms and does his best to give her a glare, but she knows that this is a victory for her.

Elise skips up to Leo and loops an arm through one of his own. He frowns down at her. "And I won't tell Xander either if you take me down to the bakery."

He yanks his arm away from her as his face gets even redder than before. "Just have one of your lackeys take you."

Elise sticks her tongue out.

"And I won't tell if you raise my pay," Niles speaks up, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Camilla watches with amusement as her younger brother scrunches up his nose in disgust. He was so adorable when he was mad.

"You're not all seriously black mailing me right now, are you?"

"Now, now," Camilla coos, walking over to where a still silent Corrin stands. "We all love each other, we wouldn't do that. But we're _not_ telling Xander about this."

"So we're just not gonna tell him that someone tried to take our sister?" he asks, watching as Camilla wraps the girl into her arms. She pats her head affectionately, thinking about the question.

"No, we'll tell him," she decides, and Corrin pushes herself from her older sister, looking back down the alley. "We just won't talk about all this killing.

Xander didn't have to know about everything.

"But that's always the best part," Niles says with a false disappointment. Camilla catches his eye and he gives her a wink.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Leo says, letting out a huff. "We need to get back home before Xander really gets upset. You know how he gets if we miss _dinner_."

"Well, of course," Camilla states. "He's so busy all the time now; he wouldn't miss the opportunity to spend all of his free hours with us."

"Don't think you're too cool for family dinner now, Leo," Elise chimes in. "If anything you're the lamest one here."

He whips his head towards his younger sister and she immediately hides behind Corrin; she's smart, she knows he won't come after her if Corrin's in the way.

Camilla gives her attention to Leo's "friends" instead. "You two got the bag?"

The newest member, some blonde kid that has yet to speak up, holds up a black backpack. She nods her approval. 

"Pay off all the store owners with access to this alley," she says and they both nod. "Then take care of the body and clean up the alley. Got it?"

"As you wish, milady."

"Shut up, Niles."

She gestures to her siblings to start walking down the street and they obediently follow. Elise catches Corrin's hand in her own and Leo walks behind the two, arguing with Elise on why he's actually not the lamest. Camilla smiles, she loves her family so very, very much.

So much that she was willing to kill a man, especially a dirty, dirty Hoshidan. She feels no remorse.

Her smile falls though as she remembers why she had killed that man and why he had tried to take her sister in the first place.

Corrin was a special thing that Nohr had claimed long ago, she didn't belong to that awful family anymore. She was all theirs.

And Camilla would take down anyone who tried to claim otherwise.

She was all hers.

* * *

 

Leo watches with some apprehension as Xander slowly chews his food, processing the information that was just given to him.

"Corrin," he says slowly, almost carefully. "Were you hurt?"

"No, Big Brother," she says, not taking her eyes off her own plate. She holds the fork cautiously in her hand. "I'm fine."

Xander nods, turning his attention to Camilla. "How did this happen, where were you all?"

Leo notices that she carefully clears her throat, taking a sip from her glass of water. When she puts it down, he studies the way her fingers slide off the glass, leaving trails in the condensation. She nervously picks at the food on her plate and he's almost amused by the sight.

But Leo speaks up before she can.

“How did a Hoshidan get this far into Nohrian territory without being noticed?”

Xander doesn’t say anything, he just gives the younger man a look that’s hard for even him to decipher.

“It doesn’t matter,” Camilla finally says. “He’s been taken care of; we don’t have to worry about him coming back.”

“Taken care of?” Xander asks with a brow raised. “Camilla, if you-“

“I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t,” she says with a dry laugh. He narrows his eyes at her.

“Why did they try to take Big Sister?” Elise asks from her seat, food nearly untouched just like the rest of them.

The two older siblings exchange a look; Leo knows very well why they would try to take their beloved sister, and he doesn’t like what that means.

If the Hoshidans knew she was still alive and _living_ with the ruling family of Nohr, that could mean trouble for everyone.

Xander puts down his fork and makes a steeple with his hands, looking at each sibling very carefully. Leo feels himself start to shrink under his ruling gaze.

“Corrin is not allowed to go outside without one of us or Felicia and Jakob with her,” and at his order, Corrin’s lips tip down and she sits up straighter as if to protest, but Xander snaps his heads towards her as if to say ‘quiet down’. “Someone must stay by her side at all times. Do _not_ let her out of your sight.”

“Xander, I’m practically an adult, you can’t-“

“Someone tried to take you, Corrin,” he interrupts. “We would all be devastated if something worse were to happen to you.”

“But why is it just me?” she argues, and Leo’s almost frightened by the way she so openly challenges their big brother. “They could’ve taken Elise, or maybe Leo, it could’ve been anyone-“

“No, it couldn’t,” Xander argues back, his voice growing angrier. “They came after you specifically.”

Corrin sputters for a moment, clenching her fists. She’s been so protected all her life; she didn’t understand any of it. “Why me?”

“We’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“Xander!”

“We can’t keep her in the dark forever,” Camilla agrees.

“Yes, but now’s not the time.”

“It seems as good a time as any.”

“Xander,” Leo interjects, placing his own fork down. “Are we just going to keep it a secret forever?”

Xander glares back at him and opens his mouth, but he’s interrupted as Corrin stands up quickly, knocking her chair over.

Leo can see the way angry tears threaten to fall from her startling bright eyes. She bares her teeth in an almost barbaric way as she turns to address her older brother.

“Stop treating me like a child!” she shouts, and even Xander is startled by the outburst.

“Corrin-“

“You only ever treat me like a child, even Elise gets more freedom than I do!”

“Corrin, _sit down_ -“

“No!” she shouts, and Leo is glad he is not on the receiving end of the glare she is giving. “I’m tired of always being treated like this. I can take care of myself.”

Xander breathes in deeply, trying to keep his voice calm. Leo watches on with a disconcerting feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Corrin,” he begins, and Leo is getting tired of the way that always seems to be the first words out of Xander’s mouth. “Do you know what it is exactly that our family does?”

Her frown deepens. “No one’s ever bothered to tell me.”

“That’s for your own protection. There are bad people out there that would like to take you away from us, but we can’t allow that to happen.”

Even though Leo would love nothing more than to keep his darling sister safe, he himself has had the hardest time with the way Xander and their father kept Corrin so lock and key.

Corrin just shakes her head, causing one tear to slip. She hastily wipes at it before she speaks again, a venom to her voice that she’s never heard before.

“I’m done,” she seethes, throwing a napkin back down on the table. Elise jumps in her seat. “Good night.”

She stomps out of the room, much like a child, but Leo doesn’t blame her. Xander just sighs, dragging his hands down his face.

There’s a silence that’s almost tangible but it’s only broken by the sound of their sister’s door slamming upstairs. Elise plays with her fork, Camilla takes another sip of water, and Leo just sits there.

“If you don’t tell her tonight, when will you ever?” Camilla asks; Xander doesn’t look up.

Instead he stands up, pushing in his chair. “If you need me, I’ll be in my office.”

He turns and walks out the door.

Camilla lets out her own exasperated sigh, but then turns towards a teary eyed Elise. “Let’s go get ready for bed, darling.”

Elise just nods as she hops out of her seat, dropping her fork back down onto the plate.

As Camilla passes by him, she places a hand on his shoulder. “Will you be fine?”

He nods.

“Good night,” she says, and she leans down to give him a kiss atop his head. He lamely bats her away, but he doesn’t really have the heart to do it with much vigor.

As he’s left alone in the dining room he stares around at the empty table around him. Camilla’s water half drunk, Elise’s crumbs from the bread roll with only one bite taken out of it, and all of their plates unfinished.

His eye catches the chair Corrin had knocked over, the napkin she had thrown back down at the table. The absence of all of them.

Some family dinner, he thinks to himself, but he can’t seem to make himself stand up to leave like the rest of them.

He takes another bite from his plate, but he finds it hard to chew, hard to keep it down. He looks back at Corrin’s chair, Xander’s words ringing in his ears.

“Sit down,” he mimics, but there is no one there to hear him.

He laughs.


	2. Tick, Tick, Tick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a strange sight, seeing her there in two different lights. On one side she is covered in the orange tint of the old lamp, the other is colored by the white light of the moon making her look pale and porcelain. She looks familiar but completely foreign all the same. He stares at her uneasily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY. After a vaction, school starting, and just life in general, I finally finished the next chapter. I hope to finish the next chapter of young and impressionable next (finally too) so please enjoy this for now!

For all his life there has been a large grandfather clock resting at the end of the long hallway that leads to his bedroom.

It's old and it's dusty, but it still works; the giant pendulum has always swung back and forth, back and forth in an almost hypnotizing fashion. It's made out of a dark and deep wood, the grain in it running wild in exotic patterns, but they are so familiar to him.

At the end of the hall where the clock lies, he must pass his siblings rooms to reach his own.

His feet are bare against the soft carpet that runs along the stairs, the entire hallway's length. The bannister that guards him from the lower floor is smooth beneath his right hand as he takes the final step off the stairs.

The first room he passes is Xander's. The door is closed but he knows he is not there; instead, he is below in the study, probably stressing himself out over personal affairs having to do with the "family business". He wasn't sure when the last time he saw the inside of that room was, or the last time he even saw its _owner_ in the room. The man had to sleep sometime didn't he? But then again, Leo had often found his older brother knocked out in the study while trying to find a book.

Xander's room, the biggest though by only a bit, the door has always been closed whether someone was in it or not.

The next room he passes is Camilla's and he really has no memories of being in it. The door is sometimes open, sometimes closed but she is always willing to let her siblings in. She wants them to come to her with their desires and worries, their wishes and needs; she is their mother figure that none of them no longer have.

Though she welcomes them all to her room, he has never been in; he's had no need to be. He prefers to handle his problems on his own, he's always have.

He lets out a small breath as he looks at the tightly shut door next to hers. Corrin's room.

The door was always nearly open, she often forgot to close it, but now it was closed and most likely locked. He thinks back to dinner, the way she talked to Xander, her knocked over chair, her unfinished plate. She doesn't understand anything; no one’s bothered to tell her.

He stops outside of her room, contemplating whether or not he should check in on her. He raises his fist, opens his mouth, but his body doesn't follow his mind and its orders, causing his actions to fall flat. She'd be fine, she didn't need his sympathy. Camilla and Elise had most likely already tried to talk to her (he knows Xander wouldn't) and her "servants" would most likely fret over her as well. She didn't need him.

There's a crack of light spilling into the hallway coming from the barely closed door of Elise's room, formerly his. She had told him that the ticking of the grandfather clock right outside the last room kept her awake at night, but he knows she really just wanted to be closer to their sister. He had to oblige; the way Corrin gave him that pleading look, asking him to give in to their sweet little sister just once, he had to oblige.

Soft whispers come from the room and he recognizes them as Camilla and Elise. He can't hear what's being said but he can take a guess as to what it is.

He moves to leave Corrin's door and reach his own at the end of the hall, right next to the grandfather clock and its loud _tick, tick, tick,_ but he's startled as he hears a quick creaking. He feels a tight hand around his arm, then the tug and the pull into the room. It's dark.

"Leo."

It's Corrin.

He searches the dark room with his eyes but he's greeted with nothing.

"What?"

He hears her feet shuffling against the carpet, then a click, and the darkness is gone, replaced by the dim light of the bedside lamp. She's standing next to it, her hand still on it, and her hair down and brushed neatly and she's already wearing a nightgown, her feet bare.

She meets his eyes for just a second before moving across the room to her window and pulling the curtains aside, letting moonlight spill in. She takes a moment to look out at the world below the second story window before looking back at him. She sighs.

It's a strange sightseeing her there in two different lights. On one side she is covered in the orange tint of the old lamp, the other is colored by the white light of the moon making her look pale and porcelain. She looks familiar but completely foreign all the same. He stares at her uneasily.

"Leo," she says again, and he lets out a small breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He locks eyes with her to acknowledge his name. 

She moves to sit on the edge of her bed, pulling her hair over one shoulder to play with the ends. Where she sits now, the lamplight takes over more of her features, causing her to look warmer, more colored. It's strange.

"I know what our family does is bad," she says abruptly. He's snapped back into reality. "I know we're not this rich because of hard work."

He turns to look at the window, the pale lilac curtains that hang there limply, no breeze to blow through them. Her words mean something but he's not quite sure what.

"What makes you say that?"

He hears her shift on the bed. "Leo..."

He can feel the air in the room growing stale, nothing in here could flourish with such stuffy air. Maybe he should open the window.

"What Camilla did today," she says quietly as he makes his way across the room. "That's not...normal."

He stops in front of the window and places his fingers against the bottom, pushing up. It doesn't budge.

"The window doesn't open," he hears her say with a sigh.

He looks back at her, startled. _His_ window opened, and the one in Elise's room opened. Why didn't hers? 

"Leo," she says again, and it's so familiar in the way his name falls off her tongue so perfectly. "What does this family do?"

He notices the way she doesn't refer to it as hers now. Her crimson eyes are dark, the only light a shiny gleam from the moon as she looks to him in front of the window.

He looks down at his shadow and the way it stretches across her floor. He seems bigger than he really is.

"No one will tell me," she continues. "I know it's bad, I saw that today."

"Hoshidans don't like us," he says simply. She rolls her eyes.

"When you don't like someone you don't usually try to kill them."

"He tried to take you."

"I know that," she retorts quickly, her eyebrows furrowing. "But Xander said he wouldn't have taken anyone _but_ me. Why is that?"

He thinks for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. His shadow seems to grow longer.

"I can never leave this house alone and the window doesn't open. Why is that?" she asks again.

He knows; he knows everything, but he also knows he is not allowed to say anything.

Her eyes narrow and he has to turn his gaze elsewhere.

"Camilla murdered a man and you carry a gun everywhere you go. Why is that?"

His eyes snap back up to her. "How do you-"

"I'm not an idiot," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm your big sister but you seem to know more about what's going on than I do."

She was older, but only by a small margin. It didn't mean much, especially since she wasn't actually-

"You're my big sister," he repeats, letting those tainted words tumble past his lips. _You're my big sister_.

She scoots further back up onto her bed and drags her knees up to her chest, wrapping tight arms around them. Her nightgown pools around her waist.

"Camilla killed a man," she whispers, and it's almost ghostly silent in her room. "She beat a man's head in with a bat."

Her eyes are wide as she stares down at her feet, her toes wiggling on the edge of her bed. He takes a step away from the window and towards her.

"There was so much blood," she says, her crimson eyes turning glassy. "I've never seen so much blood."

"Corrin," he breathes, taking another step. She doesn't meet his gaze.

"Camilla killed a man and you carry a gun," she repeats, and suddenly she looks up at him. "Is it on you right now?"

He shakes his head, moving to sit on the edge of her bed next to her. She seems visibly relieved.

"I just want someone to tell me what's going on," she says, trying to look at him with those pleading eyes he knows none of their siblings can resist. "Why is it always me that's kept away?"

She doesn't understand and he wonders if it's even his place to tell her.

"I don't know," he lies. "You have to ask Xander."

She frowns, the emotion marring her beautiful features. "Of course, Xander controls everything."

"Father controls everything," he automatically corrects, and as soon as he does he wishes he hadn't.

Her head snaps towards his and her knees drop from her chest. She leans forward towards him and he finds himself inching away.

"We hardly ever see him but he still somehow controls our lives," she says bitterly. "Our mothers are gone and Xander is more of a father figure than he could ever be."

He gulps, looking down at his hands. Father only controlled Corrin's life, not his or his other siblings; they were free to do as they please so long as they did not tarnish the good Nohrian name.

And though Xander was more of a father figure, he could still be too overbearing at times, causing him to resent his own flesh and blood even if it was only half.

"Corrin," he says lowly, and he can see her cock her head in anticipation. He takes a small breath. "Just stay out of it."

"What?"

"This 'family business' isn't something you want to be a part of. It's just something that isn't for you."

He can feel her stare turn angry, the heat of the room rises.

"Leo-"

"What Camilla did today," he interrupts, reminding her of the gruesome scene. "Is not something that you should be involved with. Be thankful that Father keeps you so lock and key."

He can almost feel her shake her head violently, begging him to stop. "Leo, please-"

"You're too sheltered and too naive," he continues, clenching his hands into fists. Oh how he loathed the way he sounded like Xander. "Even if Father were to let you in on it now, you still wouldn't fit in."

He hears her slightly gasp and he clenches his fists tighter, sinking his fingernails into the palm, trying to draw blood. How could he say such things to his darling sister?

This life was not meant for Corrin; she was a sweet and innocent thing that didn't know any better. He didn't want her getting caught up in something like this, something like death and lies. He couldn't imagine her doing something like what Camilla had done today.

He hears her breathing quicken then calm. "Leo, how could you?"

The hurt in her voice, it's almost too much to bear, but someone had to tell her the truth even if it wasn't the one she wanted.

"Corrin-"

"Get out," she says almost bone chillingly quiet. He doesn't look at her but instead tries to apologize.

"I said get out," she repeats, and it's even colder than before. He quietly stands and closes the gap to the door, the handle as cold as her tone.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone else but there had always been something about Corrin that he liked more. She brought something within him out of his guarded heart; she was the one that helped him most.

He finds the courage to look back at her but she's too busy glaring at her prison window. The moonlight paints her face with an eerie light, casting her in a frosty glow. He holds back a shiver.

"I still love you," is what _she_ would normally say after they had had a fight, but the words fall flat and don't mean as much when he says it to the lifeless air of her room.

 _And I you_ , is what he would say back, unable to stay mad at her for too long. But she stays silent.

Of course, it was to be expected. He had just told her, in a way, that she really did not belong in this family. She never did.

He takes a small breath but it feels as if he is choking on the empty air that fills the space between them. He opens the door.

"Good night, Sister," he almost whispers. "I'll see you in the morning."

She makes neither move nor sound to acknowledge him, so he quickly leaves her room and quietly shuts the door behind him. The hallway is dark, no light coming from Elise's room now, and it's quiet save for the clock.

_Tick, tick, tick._

He walks away from her door, the carpet scratching his bare feet.

_Tick, tick, tick._

He walks past Elise's half closed door and he can hear her slow breathing.

_Tick, tick, tick._

The ticking gets louder as he reaches his door and stands right next to the clock. Each passing second echoes in his mind as he relives minutes already passed that he will never capture again. Minutes of his time with Corrin that he so willingly gave to her; she owned his time and she knew it.

His own door handle is warmer than hers. He twists it, welcoming himself home.

 _Too young and too naive_ , he thinks, over and over and over. _You'll never fit in._

He sighs. What kind of person would want to fit in to a life like this?

He sees the gun mentioned earlier on top of his desk next to a pile of books, fully loaded and still warm to the touch.

He certainly didn't.

 

* * *

 

She dreams of a throne, big and beautiful and inviting. Intricate designs that change every time she blinks, every time her eyes move; one second they are roses, the next they are petals of flowers she's never seen. Another they are forget-me-nots, another they are water lilies. It doesn't matter what she sees though, she only cares about who will sit in it.

In her right ear she can hear the whisperings of voices she's never heard, beckoning to stray to their side. _Come with us_ , they plead, and she's almost tempted by the offer.

Her attention is directed to the other side of the throne though, as she sees young and sweet Elise step out from behind it. The girl giggles then runs forward, colliding with her legs and throwing her arms around her waist. She doesn't say anything; there are no verbal displays of her joy, it's unlike her.

She then sees Leo step out from behind the throne, that familiar look on his face; the furrowed brow, the upturned nose, and the frown he tries to keep but she knows there is an ever perpetual smirk hiding just beneath. He doesn't say anything either, instead he moves towards her just as their older sister pops out from the other side.

Camilla walks towards her, arms held wide and a small smile on her face. Her amethyst eyes twinkle with a familiar and friendly light that Corrin’s grown to know well. She saunters closer, that sway in her hips, and her mouth moves but no words come out; her lips meet then spilt, her tongue hitting the roof of her mouth on the last sound only to fall away to the wide smile and perfect teeth.

Corrin.

The last person, the oldest and sternest sibling, finally appears, taking a careful and calculated step out from behind the throne only to stop next to it. He places his hand on the arm of it, and for the first time in quite some time, he smiles.

It’s small and barely there, and if any other person had been looking, they might’ve said that she was imagining it. She knew better though, that was most definitely a smile.

She smiles back, opens her mouth to invite him over but she’s cut off when those voices from earlier start again. They beckon and speak as if they know her, and the longer they talk the more familiar they seem to grow, like a memory long suppressed tapping at the bottom side of the ice on a frozen lake. It’s there, but she can barely see through the ice.

One of the voices comes near her ear, and she whips around, Elise’s arms slipping away from her waist and Camilla’s sweet scent falling background to other senses.

When she turns, she thinks she sees her siblings. There are four figures standing there, a bright light coming from behind them and casting their bodies into shadows. She quickly realizes that they are not her siblings, but they are familiar all the same in many ways. They are hard to see, their outlines are blurry and she rubs her eyes but the image doesn’t change. Four figures that she can’t make out.

One of them, the tallest, holds out his hand, and when he speaks she can actually hear them.

“We’ve missed you,” it says, a deep man’s voice.

The others nod in agreement, and Corrin realizes that the smallest figure on the end bears a striking resemblance to another little girl she knows.

When she doesn’t say anything, the voice beckons again, this time moving his hand as if to call her towards them.

“Won’t you come home?”

She raises a brow; her siblings were right behind her, surely they knew the way home.

She turns back around to ask them what was going on, where they were, but she is greeted by those unfamiliar figures once again, the tallest sitting in the throne and the others surrounding him. Where did Elise go? Leo? Camilla? Even Xander? All of them were gone, replaced by their shadowed counterparts.

She wants to open her mouth, ask where her siblings had gone, but her voice doesn’t come out; instead she is granted a weak rasp that sounds like she’s smoked every bad thing on the earth, like a person who’s slept for a thousand years and hasn’t had a single sip of water. There is no voice for her anymore; there is only air that happens to escape from her lungs.

She clamps her hands down over her mouth, her eyes open wide as the figures shift beneath her gaze. They speak again, all talking over one another to the point where she can’t understand a word being said, but eventually they all laugh.

“Come here,” the man sitting in the throne demands, much like a king, but it is with a kind yet firm tone. _A natural born leader_ , she thinks.

She opens her mouth to speak again but nothing comes out once more. She moves her hands down to her throat and she gives herself a chill; her hands are freezing.

“Don’t be shy,” he says, encouraging her with his hand once again. “We are your family after all.”

Her eyes shoot open even wider, her eyebrows raise; what kind of joke was this?

She only had one family, and these people were certainly not them. She had two sisters and two brothers, but these people were _not_ them.

She shakes her head, her hair swishes around her wildly. She can hear the disappointment in his voice when he speaks again.

“Come now, don’t be like that.”

The others murmur, but she still can’t understand what their saying. It’s almost a foreign language to them.

Something one of them says catches her attention though; it’s almost familiar just like they are, almost tangible and almost there. It’s tapping at the ice, causing a crack to break through.

A name, a name she knows but she hasn’t heard all the same.

Just who were these people?

Wake up, a new voice says, and it echoes throughout her head, ringing in her ears. The others don’t seem to notice.

The man sitting in the throne stands, and for the first time she notices that the design on it has decided to stay with that flower she’s never see.

He takes a step towards her, and the authoritive way he walks reminds her of Xander.

Wake up.

She tries to speak, just a minute! But her voice just won’t come.

She tries again, and again, until she is able to let out a weak croak. It doesn’t sound like her though, and she wonders what her siblings would say to her now if they could see just how hard she was struggling to even speak. Would they think she was weak, that she truly wouldn’t be able to handle what they did?

She didn’t even know what that was.

Wake up!

The figure takes another even step towards her, and the air around her chills, sending a shiver down her spine.

Leo’s words echo in her head; _even if Father were to let you in on it now, you still wouldn’t fit in._

It stings just thinking about it; her heart, her eyes, it all stings with a hurt she’s never felt.

Another step and the air grows even colder. She brings her hands up to her cheeks to try and warm them but she greeted with the feeling of ice instead.

“Wake up!”

Her eyes shoot open and she sees two identical faces looming over her. She blinks a few times before batting their hands away, ice cubes in their hands and placed on her cheeks.

She sits up quickly, and the girls step back while giggling to themselves.

They’re her maids, Felicia and Flora, and they often had…unusual ways of waking her up.

Behind them, standing in the door frame a respectable distance away, is the family’s butler Jakob. He gives her a pleasant smile when she meets his eyes. She forgets to smile back, rubbing the sleep from her eyes instead.

“Good morning, Miss Corrin,” Flora says in that almost monotone voice of hers. She holds out her hand to Felicia, who drops her ice cube into it.

“You sure are hard to wake up,” Felicia adds, sitting down on the edge of the bed as she watches her sister walk over to the vase on the desk, dumping the half melted ice cubes into it.

Jakob walks fully into the room, flicking the side of her head before she can get too comfortable. He gives her a look as if to say _mind your manners_ , so she quickly stands.

“Sorry,” Corrin mutters, surprised and relieved to hear her voice once again. Flora quickly leaves the room only to appear a moment later with a glass of water. There was no way she had gone down to the kitchen and back that fast.

“You must’ve been having quite a nice dream,” Felicia says, taking the glass and handing it to her master. It’s cold, and it burns as she swallows, relieving her dry throat.

“It was pretty strange,” she admits as she sets down the glass on her nightstand. Jakob walks over to the window, pushing the lilac curtains aside and letting a dull light in, just like Leo had the night before.

She picks up the glass again, trying to swallow these bitter feelings as well.

“These strange people were asking me to come home with them,” she recalls, pulling her legs towards her to sit cross legged. “They acted as if they knew me, but I have no idea who they were.”

“Strange indeed,” Flora agrees. She starts to make her way towards Corrin’s dresser to pull out some clothes.

“I can get my own clothes today,” she blurts out, her grip tightening around her glass. “Thank you, Flora.”

The maid raises her brow but nods and steps away, taking a spot next to Jakob who had made his way back to the door.

“It’s not wise to follow people who claim to know you,” Jakob advises. She tilts her head.

“Stranger danger,” Felicia sings, throwing away stray papers near the desk. Jakob makes a face.

Corrin hums in contemplation; they were right, she should never listen to people she doesn’t know who says things like that. What had happened the day before was proof enough.

The day before. She truly was too naïve; Leo was right.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear; she hears footsteps, then sees his familiar frame walk past her open door and the servants standing in it. He doesn’t bother to look in.

She sighs, rubbing her fingers over her eyebrows then covering her eyes.

“Well shall we head downstairs for breakfast?” Jakob asks, and Flora is already heading out the door to follow the brother down the stairs. “I heard Gunter is making your favorite.”

She scoffs quietly to herself. Xander had probably put him up to it. Or maybe it had been Leo.

“Yeah,” she breathes, and she steps out of bed, still in her nightgown, and moves towards the door. Jakob steps out of the way, averting his eyes as she steps into the hall, closely followed by Felicia.

She stops to stare down over the bannister to the floor below, and the old clock at the end of the hall responds to her presence with a _tick, tick, tick_. She sees Leo reach the last step with Flora right behind him, quickly excusing herself and then stepping by him to reach the kitchens. Elise zips by him, punching him in the arm as she does, and she almost smiles when she sees him look around, then give chase after her. She watches and she feels a pang of something she can’t describe when she sees him catch her, pulling her onto the couch below and tickling her until she’s squealing with joy.

Camilla appears from beneath the bannister, only to stop and stare fondly at the two on the couch.

“Enough you two,” she says will false authority, making her way over to them. “Get going, we need to get to breakfast.”

They both stare up at her then laugh once again as Leo tries to tickle her, though this time Elise barely escapes. She runs off out of view, followed by Leo standing from the couch and adjusting his clothes. Camilla steps towards him, lowering her voice.

Corrin has to strain her ears to hear what’s being said.

“What happened last night?” she asks, placing a hand on his shoulder. The smile is quickly gone from his face, replaced by his usual frown.

“Nothing,” he answers simply. She makes a noise of annoyance.

“She asked you about it, didn’t she?” she presses further. He shakes her hand off, distancing himself from the older sibling.

“I didn’t tell her anything Xander wouldn’t,” he tells her coldly, already walking away. She can hear Camilla sigh loudly, and she is startled when she suddenly looks up and she meets her eyes.

Camilla raises a brow as she also raises her voice. “You aren’t dressed?”

Corrin shakes her head slowly; Camilla knows she had been standing there for some time.

She can see Jakob step off the last stair, most likely to help Gunter serve the breakfast; when had he left his spot from behind her?

“Oh well,” Camilla says, giving her a perfectly sweet smile. It warms her heart, makes her feel better. “Come down, quickly. I heard Gunter was making a certain someone’s favorite.”

She feels her own half smile make its way to her face, all thoughts and memories of dreams and words from last night slipping from her mind.

“So I’ve heard.”

Camilla flicks her hair over her shoulder, and waits patiently for her sister to move. Out from beneath the bannister she sees Xander walk out, a coffee mug and the newspaper in his hands. He mutters a ‘good morning’ to their sister.

“Well then, hurry up,” she tells her as soon as he’s passed through the room below.

She nods once again, bumping into Felicia as she pushes herself away from the bannister and towards the stairs.

The carpet, so plush and so familiar, scratches at the bottom of her bare feet as she takes two steps at a time. Her toes curl under to hang onto the edge of the last step, and Camilla holds out her hand. She happily accepts it, wrapping her arm around the other’s.

“Sleep well, dear?” Camilla asks, and Corrin sighs, leaning her head on the older girl’s shoulder.

“I guess,” she answers, the carpet turning to cold tile as they reach another hall in their exceedingly large house. “It was filled with some weird dreams.”

“Oh?” Camilla questions. “Do tell.”

“They were nothing really. I can barely remember them already,” she lies, and she takes a small breath, hoping her sister cannot see through her.

The truth was that she remembered it, and quite well at that. Every voice, every figure, every detail, she remembered it all as if it were carved into her brain, the images burned into the back of her eyelids.

“Well then, no matter,” her sister assures her, patting her arm gently. She takes in a deep breath, reveling in the sweet scent of roses that Camilla always seemed to wear like an aura. “What’s done is done.”

Corrin smiles but she does not think she is talking about her dream anymore. Camilla always had a way of changing the subject to what she wanted to talk about.

She pushes open the door to the dining room and her other three siblings are already there. Elise taunts Leo with her fork, to which he replies by reaching for her food that Jakob had just placed on her plate. Flora fills Xander’s mug as he looks on his siblings with that small smile she had seen in her dream.

They all turn silent and turn to look at their new guest as the door behind them swings closed. Elise smiles widely, Leo averts his eyes, and Xander gives her that stern look she’s grown so familiar with.

“Good morning, Elise,” she says confidently, stepping away from Camilla to give the younger girl a kiss on the head.

“Good morning, Leo,” she continues, giving him a patronizing pat on the head. He doesn’t move, he sits stiffly, not even bothering to bat her hand away like he was opt to do.

She moves around the table, pulling her chair out as she moves on to the eldest.

“And good morning, Xander,” she says sweetly, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek. She notices how he grips his fork with uncertainty, possibly asking himself if she was still mad at him, why she was acting as if nothing had happened.

She sits down and waits patiently as Flora produces a plate and Jakob brings out more food. All her siblings stare at her with wide eyes, save for Camilla who sits across from her with a knowing glance.

Corrin gives her a sly smile as she thanks Flora for the morning tea she had suddenly procured. She takes a sip from it, moving her eyes to look at Leo.

He meets them, and he gives her a glare as he realizes what that look on her face means.

He moves his head ever so slightly, as if to shake it and say no, but she can only smile as she sets down her cup.

_What’s done is done._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, it took forever to write it lmao. It's still a little slow this chapter, but in the next one we get into things! I'm going to bed now, have a good night!


	3. The Family Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No matter what happens, Corrin, you know that we're your family, right?"
> 
> She frowns, confused at his sudden change in demeanor. She nods her head and he looks visibly relieved.
> 
> "Good," he takes a second to breathe before gripping her hand tighter. "Now run."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated this one. Please enjoy! will try to fix editing mistakes

The brisk, cold air of early autumn's rain in Nohr bites at the tip of her nose and ears, causing her to shrink herself into her wool lined coat as she sympathetically watches Elise move along in her long socks and school skirt, too short for this bitter weather. 

The sun had just begun to rise in the east—or that's what she had to assume, as the normal dark clouds were too busy obscuring the gentle sun's rays, leaving them out in the cold.

"Xander said Effie could sleep over tonight," she hears Elise tell her and Leo, though her eyes are focused on the damp cement of the sidewalk as they trot along.

"It's not the weekend yet," Leo responds, to which Elise replies with a huff.

Corrin looks up at her younger sister and smiles at the familiar way her bottom lip sticks out in a pout, the way she puffs out her chest and crosses her thin arms over it, and the way she so often challenges Leo's authority over her. It came as often as her smiles did, but it didn't bother anyone much.

Her blonde twin tails sway furiously to the side to flick Leo in the face as she turns her nose upwards and towards the street, her pale pink backpack shifting slightly on her shoulders.

"I _know_ that, Leo," she says haughtily, but the attitude quickly dissipates as she smiles at him once again, face beaming with joy. "But how exciting! I'm so excited!"

She giggles happily and skips ahead of him and he kicks the place on the sidewalk where she had just been with a little more force than necessary. He sighs.  

Corrin walks past him, ignoring him when his words try to reach her.

"Corrin, I know you're up to something."

She smiles. Of course she was; she just _had_ to be in on the family secret.

"Don't piss off Xander more than you already have," he warns, and she feels her face heat up.

"Maybe _you_ shouldn't piss _me_ off more than you already have."

He can only sigh once again. 

Up ahead at the corner of Main Street and Burner Drive, where the oldest convenience store is, she sees Elise jog up to a familiar girl in a faded blue school skirt, her sweater with a noticeable hole on the elbow of the sleeve. She's looking down at a flower in her hands but quickly looks up when she hears the patter of Elise's paten leather shoes on the pavement.

"Effie!" Elise cries out in joy, and she throws her arms around the girl with full force, nearly dropping her flower.

Her face is first surprised, but quickly softens as she gently wraps one arm around her.

Corrin looks at the hand resting on her sister's back, at the bruised and scabbing knuckles that hold a single rose gingerly.

Effie was in the grade above her sister and came from the poorest slum near the border of town, right near the riverbank. She often came to their house banged up and bruised, like many of her siblings' unusual friends did, but Corrin had never bothered to question why they came to them like that.

It used to be Camilla who patched everyone up when they came in beaten and sometimes half dead, but the torch was quickly passed to Elise when she had brought home Effie for the first time.

When Corrin had asked her older sister why she often came with just her knuckles bloodied, Camilla had only said, "She's a good friend, she'll keep our sister safe."

So she never asked anything else.

She looks up from the girl's hand and is met with her cool colored eyes and a stare. Corrin clears her throat as she quickly averts her eyes.

"Oh, Effie!" her sister says, swinging her backpack around to her front. She unzips it. "I brought you something to eat!"

Effie smiles warmly, pushing a stand of her wispy platinum hair behind her ear, the hole in her sweater more noticeable.

Elise pulls out a paper plate wrapped in foil and passes it over to her friend, to which she graciously bows her head, unable to speak as she pulls the foil off. For as much as Effie ate (which was often enough to almost clear out their entire kitchen in a single weekend) she was still a small and slender girl.

But Corrin had heard that she was tougher than she looked on the streets.

As Effie starts to pick at the breakfast, they continue on towards the school, and Leo takes a place beside her once again as Elise delivers the good news to her friend.

"Xander said you could stay over tonight!"

"But it's only Thursday."

"I _know_ that, Effie, but aren't you excited?"

Leo chuckles and she looks over, catching herself admiring the way his usually glum face has now softened, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly, his mouth barely turned up.

Corrin raises a brow. "What do you find so funny?"

He keeps his eyes on their sister, his hands behind his back. "Just had a feeling of deja vu."

She rolls her eyes, her blood still boiling from the night before. But she finds it so hard to stay mad at her younger brother for too long. If she wanted her plan to work, she had to act the part.

But it was easier said than done.

"She reminds me of you when we were younger."

"Oh?" Her eyes narrow, stuck on her feet as she walks through a shallow puddle. "And since when have you become older? You're starting to sound like _Xander_."

He scoffs, sticking his hands back into his pockets as if suddenly deciding it was better to stay quiet. She grins triumphantly.

It was the truth, but she wasn't sure whether he didn't realize it or if he just wasn't willing to admit it. He had seemed to have taken an aversion to being compared to their older brother.

It's early in the morning but there are still quite a few cars lined down Main Street, shop keepers and school kids out on the sidewalks preparing for their days. Every store they pass, she can see employees keeping their heads down, every pedestrian they walk by, their eyes quickly move elsewhere. It's not unfamiliar but she just still cannot seem to get it.

No one ever looks at them when they pass, Leo had told her once that they'd have to be stupid if they did, but from across the street she can see two people standing near the mouth of an alleyway, watching the four of them carefully as they stroll by.

There's something unusual about the way they look, their features are uncommon traits found in those from Nohr, but they're dressed in all black and she can't see the bottom half of their faces. They're too far away to really make out any details.

A man and a woman, that's all she can tell.

The man has a hoodie on but she can see a wisp of a burnt red color sticking out the front, and the woman has long and straight dark hair, somewhat pulled back from her face. Their eyes follow them cautiously.

But only their eyes, their noses and mouths are—

She catches her breath. Were they wearing black surgical masks?

She doesn't realize she's staring at them until the man makes eye contact with her, and her heart nearly stops as she almost bumps into a chatty Elise.

She turns her head to apologize though Elise hadn't even realized and continues to talk away, Effie listening carefully.

"Camilla can fix the hole in your sweater when we get home tonight."

She turns her head back to the alleyway, but the two in black are gone.

She releases a shaking breath, and a faint cloud of vapor leaves her mouth.

She keeps her eyes on the damp cement once again, wondering if perhaps she was just imagining it.

She had never seen anything like that before. They looked so strange with just their eyes showing, but their eyes themselves had been strange—she couldn't think of a way to explain it. Familiar yet foreign all the same.

Leo starts tapping furiously at his phone screen, and she snaps her head back up to see him with an angry look on his face.

"Leo?"

He doesn't say anything as he waits for a response. She tries to take a peek at his phone.

 _I have Elise and Corrin with me but we're almost to the school_.

She raises a brow when she sees her name. Who was he talking to?

A new message appears.

_Do NOT put either of them into danger. Come straight home with Corrin after._

She watches as his eyes narrow and his thumbs move faster than his thoughts once again.

_They're following us._

She feels a chill run down her spine at reading that one. She has an inkling as to who "they" were, and exactly who he was texting.

Had Leo seen them too, the people in the alleyway?

And if he had, how could he tell they were following them now? Perhaps they were just people visiting, unaware of the unspoken law of the land. She hardly knew it herself.

She strains her ears to listen for footsteps, but she can only hear their own.

She begins to turn to look behind her, to see if they really were, but she's startled as Leo quickly wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her harshly into his side and forcing her to look straight ahead.

"Don't," he says lowly. "They'll know that we know."

She feels her eyes widen, but she can only dumbly nod her head, her hair swishing against his jacket, his hand on her side clutching her coat tightly.

She watches with fear, Elise and Effie happily chatting and prodding along, reaching the corner of the school gates, him and her only a few steps behind now. He lets her go before Elise can see, and they all enter the school where he knows _they_ will not enter.

He pulls out his phone again as he ushers all three of them to the side, behind the brick wall and away from outsiders' prying eyes.

Elise and Effie seem oblivious to his sudden change in manner, but Corrin listens carefully as he makes a phone call.

"Odin," he says as soon as the line picks up. "I need you and Niles for something later."

She can hear a voice on the other end speaking loudly. Leo looks annoyed.

"Odin—"

More babble comes from the speaker, and Leo rolls his eyes.

"Good lord—"

He looks angry as the voice seems to grow louder. She's almost able to make out the words.

"Odin!" he almost shouts, and a few students nearby jump at the outburst. He turns towards the wall and cups his hand over his mouth and the phone. "Listen to me."

The voice goes quiet.

"I need you and Niles to come pick Elise and her friend up after school."

The voice on the other end is calmer now, but she's not sure he's too happy about it.  

"There's some people who followed us on the way here."

Corrin feels her heartbeat falter again. Were the people following them trying to hurt them? Trying to hurt their younger sister?

"Yes, _those_ kinds of people."

She doesn't understand the implication of the statement. She figured they were not favorable people if they were following her family, but Leo was making it sound like they had to deal with them often.

"All you need to do is take them back to the house. Do _not_ go anywhere else."

She looks over to her sister, now sitting together with the older girl on a bench. Effie gingerly hands Elise the flower she had been holding, and the younger girl smiles widely. She feels her own heart ache. She wasn't sure what she would do if something like the day before were to happen to Elise.

"Thanks, Odin. Make sure you call Niles as soon as I hang up."

The other voice agrees loudly once again, causing her brother to pull the phone away from his ear and immediately end the call. He sighs before walking past her and towards their sister.

"Elise," he says calmly, both girls looking up at him. "Niles and Odin are coming to pick you up after school."

She frowns. "Why?"

"Don't ask why, just go with them when they get here."

"Okay...but Effie's still coming home with me today, Xander said—"

"I know," he interrupts her, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "But just make sure you two sit on the front steps until you see them."

Her eyes light up.

"Okay," Elise agrees, but even Corrin knows from the sly look on her face that there is an ulterior motive behind her fiercely lit eyes.

Leo leans forward slowly, flicking her forehead and she cries out, slapping a hand to her wound.

"Don't think you can convince them to take you elsewhere. They know to take you straight home from here."

Elise squints her eyes and pouts once again but all Effie says is, "I don't really care for Niles."

Leo looks at her for a moment and then chuckles. Corrin raises her brow.

"Fair enough," he says, and he turns to Corrin, offering his arm.

She knows it is not really an offer, the look on his face demands her, and she can't help but find Xander in the way he seems to take charge.

She accepts it.

"We'll see you guys at home," he tells them, turning to leave. Elise sticks out her tongue.

"Bye, Corrin!" she shouts quickly, forgetting for only a moment that she was mad, though the red mark on her forehead proved otherwise.

It takes all of her courage to turn around calmly and wave back, her sister's bright face easing her worries just a bit. Leo tugs her along and she disappears from sight.

When they're back on the street, Leo's arm through hers, she can feel the discernible chill in the air almost ten fold. She clutches her brother's arm a little tighter, fighting this creeping feeling at the back of her head.

"Leo, what's going on?" she questions, but he keeps his eyes trained ahead, scanning everything in front of him.

"Remember that guy that tried to take you yesterday?"

Her blood suddenly runs cold. Her voice suddenly sounds small. "Yes."

He speaks through gritted teeth, obviously trying to keep himself calm—from fear or anger, she isn't sure. "Well, they've sent more people."

Her eyes widen. "So then they're—"

"People from across the bridge," he finishes, confirming her fears. She feels her breathing quicken.  

 _People from across the bridge._ She had been warned about them ever since she was young.

"Stay calm," he warns her, carefully pronouncing each word for her.

She's not sure she can.

Leo's pace is faster than normal, though not fast enough to cause suspicion to those around them. They reach the corner of Main Street and Burner Drive in record time, and although the sun is a little further up, the cold does not leave and the clouds do not disappear .

But as they draw near she practically stops in her tracks, only moving because Leo had tugged her to cross the street, for he had noticed them before she had.

There at the corner where the oldest convenience store lies, is them, the two in all black.

And they're waiting. 

For who, she doesn't have to guess long. She doesn't even have time to.

Leo quickly pulls out his phone once they're halfway across the street but the other two cross as well.

He places the phone to his ear, turning them around back towards the direction of the school. She expects strange looks but all she receives is the feeling of someone following them, though she cannot hear the footfalls of their feet.

"Shit, pick up, pick up," he starts muttering, and finally she hears the person on the other end give a _hello?_

She lets out a squeak as Leo pulls her with him into an open store, leading her to the back corner past the slightly confused shopkeeper.

"Leo, what's—"

"Xander!" he says, keeping his grip tight on her arm. "They've blocked our way home, and they followed us back down Main Street.

She can hear their older brother on the other end and his worried voice. Leo's face contorts and moves through several emotions, stopping on something that looks similar to disbelief—or perhaps it was fear.

"We're inside Hunnigan's right now and—"

Corrin, on an unfounded act of impulse, grabs the phone from his hand, pushing the receiver up against her ear with enough force to make her wince. The warmth from Leo's own ear greets her happily.

"Xander, what's going on?"

"Corrin?" He sounds relieved yet worried all the same. "Corrin, are you okay?"

"Yes," she says hastily. "So is Leo and Elise. She's at the school."

"Good, good," he exhales. "Listen, Corrin."

"What?" she breathes, clutching onto the phone with a desperation. Her heart feels like it's going to explode; she studies the goods lining the shelves of the stores. Junk food and daily use items.

"Do as Leo says and everything will be alright."

"Xander—"

"Corrin," he interrupts, and she feels herself shrink from his demanding tone even through the phone. "You will do as Leo says and everything will be fine. I'm sending Jakob out to retrieve you and my men will take care of the rest."

It sounds good, but she's not sure if it will work. "Xander," she whispers, and she hates the way she sounds like a child. "You promise we'll be fine?"

"I pro—"

She's distracted by Leo's arm retracting from her own, his hands clutching to the side of the store shelf instead, his head peeking out from it.

"Shit."

Corrin's eyes snap up towards him, his brown eyes wide and his cold hands suddenly wrapped around one of her own, the other ripping the phone from her ear.

"They've found us."

Xander's voice on the other end suddenly sounds frantic, but he's cut off as Leo hangs up.

He sticks it back in his pocket, gripping her hand tightly as he pulls her from one aisle to the next, and then she sees them.

They keep their masks on, and she can hear the shopkeeper growing suspicious, oblivious to the drama about to unfold beneath his nose.

Leo intertwines his fingers with hers, leading her to the open door behind the two. He raises a finger to his lips and she obediently obliges, holding her breath as they make their way back to the front.

But things could not be as easy as just simply walking out, no never. As Leo tries to hastily get past the register, the lights flicker and the bell above the door rings merrily as a group of students walk in. The man in the hoodie turns to look over his shoulder, and Corrin nearly fumbles when she sees it.

_His eye._

His eyes is scarred and scabbed over, half shut but milky underneath. She bites down hard on her lip, but it had been too late.

The man turns, tapping his partner on the shoulder, then taking a step forward.

But Leo acts without warning, using his free hand to surge forward and push over the magazine rack in front of them, sending pages flying and causing the students in the doorway to shriek.

"God damnit!" the shopkeeper yells, but all Leo says is "Run!" and they're out the door once again.

Their feet pound against the cold pavement and she feels a rush of adrenaline run through her veins, carrying her faster than she's ever gone. It's hard to breathe the cold air, the frost bursts at the inner walls of her lungs, but Leo's hand around her own keeps her going.

Leo looks over his shoulder and she dares to look over her own. She can see them exit the store looking down the street before spotting them and giving chase.

She's yanked hard into an alley, colliding into his chest, then quickly turned and pushed even further into the darkness, stumbling onto the wet pavement, the loose pieces of the asphalt scraping her hands and knees. It's even darker in the alley and it stinks from all the trash lining the cold brick walls. She shudders at the memory of Camilla and a bat.

"They're trying to drive us to the border," he says in between breaths, hands on knees. He looks down at her, holds out his hand, but she bats it away. "Sorry."

She only shakes her head, standing up to brush herself off, but no sooner than when she does, is something cold and metallic shoved into her hands.

"What—"

"We're gonna have to get rid of them," Leo says, quite calmly for what he is implying. He looks back towards the opening they came through, then the opposite direction where they would have to leave.

She watches him reach behind him, nearly wanting to throw up when she sees him pull out his gun.

She had never actually seen it before, she only knew that he had one, but she's shocked to see how beautiful it is, how beautiful he is when he checks to make sure it's loaded, like he's done it a thousand and one times over. It's gold and roses design the grip of it, but she knows just exactly what that beautiful thing is meant for.

"Leo," she almost chuckles, nerves fraying the edges of her voice. "I-I'm not—I can't—I mean—"

This had to be some sort of joke. Perhaps she was dreaming again.

She looks down at the pipe in her hands, the cold metal _burning_ her bare flesh.

"You wanna know what our family does?" he suddenly snaps at her. She's frightened, she's never heard him sound so threatening. "Do you, Corrin?"

Her breathing comes in shaky intervals, unable to answer.

He rips the pipe from her hands and replaces it with his gun. She lets out a terrified squeak, fumbling backwards with it in her open hands; it's freezing against her palms, the weight of it heavy. She backs herself up against the wall, and Leo stands in the middle, the look in his eyes deadly now.

"You want to know what this family does, well this is it," he says, seemingly forgetting that they were supposed to be hiding. He takes a practice swing with the pipe towards the end of the alley. She hasn't moved an inch. "We get rid of people who oppose us. People who threaten us."

"I-I don't understand, Leo."

He scoffs. "What don't you understand? It should be pretty clear."

He quickly takes the gun back from her and she is relieved, though only for a second. He points it down the alleyway, and the boy in front of her is no longer her younger brother. "This family _kills_ people we don't like."

She lets out a shaking breath she had been holding, but it doesn't get rid of the awful twisting feeling in her stomach.

That couldn't be true. Her family could never kill anyone. Not her overprotective and stern older brother, nor her sweet and caring little sister, or even Camilla—

Camilla.

What had happened the day before had been jarring, traumatizing even, to see her motherly and nurturing older sister smash a man's face in with a bat.

"When we get home I'll tell you everything you want to know," he says, softer this time and lowering his gun. "But right now you're gonna have to do something tough."

She swallows thickly. This was what she wanted, whether she knew it or not. All she's ever wanted for the longest time, was to be included in the family secret that everyone but her seemed to know.

She nods, her wavy hair swishing across her back. He gives her back the pipe and she grips it with a bit more confidence.  

"If it comes down to it, you're gonna have to swing. Aim for the head if you do," he says. She bites down on the inside of her cheek. _Hard._

"What the plan, little brother?" she tried asking with more conviction than she has. He gives her a pitiful look.

"Any second now, they'll find us down here. We don't know if they have any weapons on them, but we're not gonna risk finding out. We'll let them drive us to the border and that's where we'll get rid of them."

He takes a few steps towards the way they came in, looking for something. She's still not sure if he means to just lose them down in the slums, or to physically fight them. She isn't looking forward to the answer.

"If gunshots go off here then we'll be in even bigger trouble. With Father, though."

Of course. Father had always been very strict about causing trouble for Nohr. What his children did reflected upon him and the entire city as well—even if the city wasn't doing too well at the moment.

"Father's never around," Corrin tells him, which he knows already. "How will he know?"

Leo gives her a short laugh, one full of disbelief. "Father doesn't have to be here to know." 

He's quiet for a moment. "Especially when it comes to you."

She feels her blood run cold.

He walks back towards her, taking one of her hands again, clutching it tightly.

"No matter what happens, Corrin, you know that we're your family, right?"

She frowns, confused at his sudden change in demeanor. She nods her head and he looks visibly relieved.

"Good," he takes a second to breathe before gripping her hand tighter. "Now run."

Her arm is yanked so hard that she's afraid he's pulled it out from its nice and cozy socket, but she doesn't have time to cry or complain as she complies to his life or death command, the pipe still in hand. She runs with him to the opposite end of the alley, everything beating fast—her heart, her feet—and she keeps running even when she hears the "Hey!" from the other end.

They run and they run and they run until her side hurts while her breathes come in short and uneven intervals and tears sting her eyes, her legs begging her to stop. They run through the back streets of downtown until her pulls her around a corner that leads to the impoverished neighborhoods so many in Nohr had called the Windmire Slums.

She looks around at the rundown houses and shacks, at the chain link fences and dead grass and the desolate feeling of the neighborhood. How lucky she had been to be born into a well off family, the one that ran the entire town.

Leo pulls her down another street and there in front of her it is, the big bridge that serves as the border between Nohr and them. The Canyon River runs beneath it, large and scary and most likely cold. She gulps.

Leo stops and she collides with him once again, crying out in relief as her legs collapse beneath her, but he yanks her back up. She looks over her shoulder and they are right there, walking up leisurely, hands in pockets. They stop in front of them, neither saying a word and Leo wraps an arm around her waist protectively, his opposite hand resting near the top of his pants, itching to reach for his gun.

"What do you want?" he grinds out.

"I think you know," the man in the hoodie says, and with them this close she can see just how frightening his eye is to look at now.

They're intimidating, dressed in all black, their face masks still on, eyes a strange quality. The woman looks her up and down before whispering something to her companion.

He nods then takes a step forward, not getting very far before Leo pulls out his gun in record speed, holding it steady as the man holds his hands up.

She watches with wide eyes as he turns the safety off.  

"Leo, don't kill them," she says, and he looks down at her, incredulous.

The man moves forwards once again while Leo is distracted, knocking the gun from his hand as the woman also surges forward, pulling her from her brother's arm.

She's pushed to the ground, the steel pipe rolling out of her hands as the woman hovers above her, dark hair spilling over a shoulder, dark, dark eyes peering into her own.

She hears Leo cry out in pain and the other man grunt. She tries to look over, she catches a glimpse of her brother on his back, the same position as she, before the woman above her jerks her head back towards her.

"Don't fight," she says, but something in Corrin clicks as she realizes what she must do.

She starts kicking and screaming, thrashing about as she tries to escape, knocking the woman off of her. She heaves, afraid she'll throw up before she scrambles to her feet running to her brother.

"Miss Corrin!"

She snaps her head back towards town to see Jakob and one of Xander's lackeys there, one with a bat, the other with a kitchen knife.

They run towards her, but the woman jumps in between her and them.

"Corrin!" Leo yells behind her, and her head hurts. He tries jerking his head towards the side, but the man on top of him holds him by the throat.

She looks to where his head had pointed, and there she sees it. The gun.

She nods, she knows. She knows what must happen, what she must do. She thinks she knows the family secret.

She runs forward, bending down to pick up the gun. She holds it in her hands and she knows.

Her hands shake as she points it to the man above her brother and she places her finger on the trigger.

She moves closer until she's on the bridge, the railing touching her back.

"Leo," she tries saying, tries warning, but even she can barely hear her voice.

She closes her eyes tight then opens them again. She can't do this.

But she must and she breathes deeply before standing firm.

"Saizo!"

She pulls the trigger and there's a loud bang and a reverberation through her body, but it doesn't last long as she feels a body against hers and then a feeling of pavement against her face.

She can see the woman dragging the man in the hoodie away from her brother, his hand pressed against his side. She can also see Jakob run towards her and the woman that was with him, Xander's, kneel down next to her brother.

"Miss Corrin, are you alright?" Jakob asks, and she nods as he helps her back up to her feet. She feels lightheaded. Could she of just killed a man.

There's a loud commotion as the girl that came with Jakob yells at them to move.

From the far end of the bridge comes a bright red car, barreling down the road at a high speed.

Corrin closes her eyes as the car skids to a stop in front of them, two more people jumping out of it. Jakob steps in front of her as one makes his way around the front of the car to join the other. He stops and looks at her.

"Get her in the car. Him too," the man says, pointing over to the one she had shot.

Jakob moves forward as Leo comes into view, punching the first man he sees, causing the other raise his fists. The woman steps away from her bloody companion before running in—to stop it or join, Corrin isn't sure.

But she is sure that this isn't what she wants. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt, and she doesn't want to hurt anyone herself. Her morning had been something awful, and she would make sure it wouldn't  end worse than it already was.

She turns towards the railing of the bridge, the metal cool beneath her hands, and she grips the steel beam next to her tightly, looking down below at the raging river.

She takes a breath, the coldest one of the day, and she carefully steps up onto the railing.

"Stop!" she yells, and all turn to look at her, her back facing them.

"Corrin, stop that!"

"Stop fighting or I'll jump!" The rivers rage.

"Corrin," Leo's voice says calmly, closer than she had thought. "Stop acting crazy and get down here."

"I caused this mess. I won't until they leave."

She hears him sigh. She looks over her shoulder to see him with a small smile.

"Okay. Come down here and we'll finish. Together."

He holds out his hand. She looks as it, her fingers itching to take it.

The family secret. This was it. The family secret; they would take care of things together.

She looks at the people behind him, frozen in fear, and she wants to finish it. Together.

She starts to turn, reaches for his hand, but her feet aren't ready just yet and they betray her.

She slips on that cool metal and she feels a new fear she's never felt as her body feels nothing, as she sees Leo run towards her and she sees his eyes go wide.  

"Corrin!"

She can't say anything, she can't feel anything, nothing but the wind whistling in her ears.

The family secret was a big weight to carry, that she had found out, but she wasn't ready to find out just what that secret meant, what it truly was.

She feels nothing and then she feels everything, and as she hits the waters all she can feel is cold.

 

 

 

 

 


	4. A Liar's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her heart nearly drops as her body feels cold for a fleeting moment. Her mind is racing, the tears are welling up, and only one word dances on the tip of her tongue.
> 
> "What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this one finished. Young and impressionable is next FOR SURE!! Thanks for reading <3
> 
> EDIT; the last part of this chapter got cut off for some reason and I'm just now noticing it??? I think I fixed it so the chapter is alittle longer now.

"Xander, I tried—"

"You let her fall off a _bridge_."

"She slipped—I tried grabbing her but—"

"It doesn't matter what you tried doing, our sister is floating somewhere in the god damn river!"

Elise lets out a small sob, the tiniest blubber and a cry, before she feels Camilla's warm and comforting hand on her back. Her vision is blurred as she watches her brothers go back and forth, her supposed to be good day taking an awful turn.

Things had gone as planned; Leo's boys had come to pick her and Effie up—she had even gone straight home, just as he had asked!—but she could tell something was amiss the moment they stepped through the front door of their home, when Camilla's red ringed eyes and unusually nasally voice had asked Niles and Odin to take Effie home right away.

Before she could even protest, her sister had wrapped her arms around her tightly, pressing her head into her bosom. Elise was only able to hear the confused murmurs and the shuffling feet against tile and the big white wooden door shutting behind her. Her own emotions had started to well up in her for the fear of what news might fall from Camilla's mouth.

And now she was sitting in the parlor, on a stiff but fancy couch that wasn't really meant for comfort, listening to her brother's fight over their sister and her tumble from the bridge.

She watches Xander sigh heavily, angrily, placing one hand on his hip and using the other to pinch the bridge of his nose before looking back at Leo with a frightening and terrifying look that makes _her_ shrink back into the couch.

"Corrin is possibly _dead_ —"

Elise bites her lip hard, trying not to let out the aching sob she wishes she could.

"—and you're just making excuses now. This is our _sister_ we're talking about."

"Xander, I'm not making excuses!"

"I told you to come straight home after you dropped Elise off, did I not?"

"Yes, but there was a change in plans, which I told you about."

"You didn't ask me what to do, you just went off and did what _you_ wanted to do, which led us to where we are now."

"I don't need to ask you _anything_. I had a plan that I thought would get us home safely."

"A plan?" Xander asks incredulously. "What? A plan to kill them? A plan to get _both_ yourselves killed? What were you thinking, Leo?"

"Maybe if I had fallen off too you would feel sorry for me for once."

"Leo!"

Leo is silent and he doesn't look at their older brother, and much to Elise's surprise, he looks as if he might start crying as well. His hands are trembling. 

"Well, Leo," Xander says, his voice lowering. "Do you know what this means?"

He doesn't say anything.

"If Corrin is dead, Father won't care much."

Elise feels her eyes widen, a faint gasp escaping her lungs.

"If she's somehow miraculously alive though, you know what trouble that means. He'll either send us to retrieve her and raid all we can of Hoshido, or he will send us to kill her ourselves."

Leo grimaces, clenching his fists and looking anywhere but their brother.

"Is that what you want Leo? For Father to send us to kill her? Can you imagine how that would make Camilla and Elise feel? How they feel right now, knowing that their sister is most likely dead?"

Leo abruptly stands from his chair, slightly raising a hand from his side as if he were to hit him, before he lowers it quickly.

"She was my sister, too!"

Silence falls over the room for too many awkward and uncomfortable minutes too long, before Camilla finally speaks up.

"That's enough," she says quietly, standing from her seat on the couch and pulling Elise up with her, noticing how she is full on crying now—runny nose and red eyes—her older sister looking down at her with a heartbreaking sadness and pity.

"Elise, go upstairs and try to rest," she tells her, long fingers running through a blonde pigtail. She's too upset to protest; she doesn't want to hear anymore from them.

She leaves her siblings behind in the quiet room, running upstairs as quickly as she can, her path unclear from the tears. She throws her door open, herself onto her bed, and lets herself sob uncontrollably into her pillow.

Her sister, her poor, poor sister Corrin. Oh what an awful way to go, what a frightening way to go, chased by the enemy and slipping through the fingers of her loving brother.

Elise was used to the family's affairs, the beatings and the deals and, sometimes, the killings. She was used to all of this; Camilla and the man in the alley had not nearly bothered her one bit. It wasn't that she didn't have a heart or compassion, she had just learned over time that it is better to keep quiet and never protest against commands or question why—she did not want to end like the man in the alley.

But Corrin was something different, a peculiar item among her siblings. She was never allowed out with them on jobs, never allowed without an escort, never allowed to hang out with school friends. Father was so protective of Corrin, and only Corrin, that Elise had started to wonder what made her so special that their father, who was _never_ around and could care less about the rest of his children, felt the need to keep her so tightly locked.

Though it most likely doesn't matter now, not if she's dead.

A gruesome image of her sister’s body, bloated and lifeless and coursing down the raging river to wherever it leads, crosses her mind, and she suddenly feels sick.

She grips the cotton sheets of her bed and pushes her face further into her pillow, crying even harder, nearly suffocating herself in between sobs and the fabric. She bites down on the pillow case, wanting to throw up and wanting to die.

She lets out another sob, her whole body shaking with it, and then she feels a hand placed lightly on her back.

"Go away," she cries into the pillow, her voice muffled. She doesn't want to speak to Xander or Camilla.

"Elise..."

The voice is soft and very unlike him, so she is surprised to realize that it is Leo. She lifts her head to turn it just enough to see him out of the corner of her eye.

He gives her a look so very unlike him, so sad and disheartening, that she feels new tears forming behind her eyes.

"Elise, I'm sorry about what happened," he says quietly, sitting on the edge of her bed. She can't recall a time he has ever been in her room since they had switched so she could be closer to Corrin.

She can only cry harder in response, sitting up on her knees, knocking his hand off as she does. She feels conflicted for some odd reason.

"It was an accident," he says even quieter, looking down at his hands resting in his lap.

Elise tries speaking, inching closer so he can hear her through the tears.

"Why have so many people been after her, Leo?"

He takes a deep, big sigh, and looks as her sidelong, then looks at the dresser against the wall opposite him.

"Elise, have you ever noticed how Corrin is treated differently than us?"

She nods, knocking a few tears down her cheeks.

"Of course."

Leo takes another big sigh, looking behind him to see if the door is closed.

"Corrin's not our sister."

Her heart nearly drops as her body feels cold for a fleeting moment. Her mind is racing, the tears are welling up, and only one word dances on the tip of her tongue.

_"What?"_

"She doesn't belong to us. Father took her from someone else."

Her eyes grow wide as things start to click, every encounter and betrayal and lie, all comes to light as Leo looks over with concern.

"Then the people that were—"

"Yes." He looks down with a pained expression.

She shakes her head, her blonde pigtails swaying across her back.

"That...that can't be right. She's our sister..."

"No she isn't, Elise."

"But—but we grew up with her! We all went to school together and we all sleep in the same house, eat the same food, have the same—"

"She's not really. Not by blood."

A tiny breath escapes her lips; her gaze turns down as she tries hard to blink the tears away.

"Did you all know about this?"

"Corrin didn't."

Her chest heaves as she tries to stop the tears from coming.

"Why didn't you tell me those people were following us?"

"I didn't want to scare you and Effie, or tip them off that we knew. I didn't know what kind of stunt they might try to pull."

"But you knew they wanted Corrin!" she shouts, to which he replies with a quiet: "I know."

"You didn't do anything about it then!"

"I had to get you to school safely—"

"You're supposed to keep Corrin safe!"

"I tried to, Elise. I really did."

"You didn't try hard enough! Corrin—she—"

"How was I supposed to know that this would happen? Why is everyone blaming _me_?"

"Because you killed her!" she cries before she can stop herself. Her cheeks are wet and her lips are salty as she throws her arm towards Leo, hitting him in the chest with her small fist.

"You killed our sister!" she wails, and the look on Leo's face says that he is mortified, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, and she herself is horrified by the words coming from her mouth but she can't stop herself.

"You—you killed her, Leo," her voice cracks as she clutches onto the front of his shirt, burying her face into it.

"Elise, stop it—" he says, but his voice cracks as well, all the guilt and sadness bubbling up in his throat. "I-I didn't mean to."

She holds onto him harder, her grip tightening and she is no longer able to speak as she cannot stop sobbing once again.

"E-Elise, I'm sorry," he whispers hoarsely, wrapping his arms around her, clutching her head to his chest, his fingers nearly painful in her hair. "I'm so sorry."

She cries harder, she knows it is not really his fault, but he is the easiest one to blame, and so she does.

She can feel his body trembling against hers, and it frightens her seeing that she's done this to her cold and stoic brother, but she cannot bring herself to apologize.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, and she is sure that there must be some tears falling from his face.

Over and over, rocking her sobbing body back and forth as the two lament the fate of their fallen sister, the low murmur of people talking someplace else in the house entering the back of her mind. She cannot seem to stop.

The words fill her ears, but she knows that no amount of apologizing will bring their darling sister back, so she cries some more.

And she cries and cries until she falls asleep in his shaking arms, only to wake up and realize that it's dark outside, that it was not a dream and that their sister was no longer here.

She rises from her bed, eyes puffy and nose stuffed, leaving her room to see someone else's.

She stops outside of her sister's door, pushing down the lump in her throat as she turns the handle, careful not to wake whoever else could possibly be able to get some rest, and peeks into the room.

Only to see that it is occupied, a sleeping prince curled up into a ball on the bed, the curtains open and the moonlight spilling in across the room. His blonde hair is nearly white in the moonlight and his skin is pale enough to be a ghost. She takes a step into the room, looking around at all the items.

She sighs softly, looking out the window, then back at him.

She approaches the side of the bed, looking down at his contorted features, before pulling the covers back and climbing in.

He shifts slightly, moving over unconsciously so that there is more room. She faces him.

"I miss her so much," she barely whispers to his sleeping face, tears forming once again. She shuts her eyes tight, praying that morning comes quickly. She knows it won't.

It takes long but she eventually starts dozing, trying to keep all dark thoughts out from her mind, but not before hearing him breathe what almost sounds like another apology. She doesn't want anymore. 

She listens as he says it again.

"Me too."

* * *

 

"When blood dries it looks brown."

Cold. She feels cold.

"Sick, isn't it?"

Tired. She also feels tired. Fatigue and an ache settles into her body as she tries wiggling her toes.

"That's alright, you'll get used to it someday."

Her eyelids feel heavy and she is unable to open them as her senses start to return. She hears voices in the room. She doesn't recognize them.

"Not really one for talking, are you?" A low and rough voice says, and as her mind starts to clear, she thinks this one is familiar. It chuckles and then groans as if it pains them to laugh.

"N-no, not really, Mister Saizo," a smaller voice says. She hears wood shifting beneath feet.

"Please forgive him, Miss Sakura. You know how he can be," a third voice says, and this one is a woman's, almost monotonous but very controlled. "We will take our leave. Thank you for helping him."

"Of course," the soft voice says, and the floorboards really creak then as a set of feet move from the room, a door opening and closing. She hears a sigh.

It is then that she is finally able to open her eyes. They flutter wildly at first, but then she is greeted with an all too bright world and an off white ceiling. She lets out a breath.

She tries sitting up but finds that her movement is restricted by heavy blankets tightly wrapped around her body. She momentarily panics, jerking her body up but immediately falling back to the floor, causing her to cry out in pain.

She hears a gasp and the quick patter of feet against the wood, the door opening, and the soft voice crying out, "Mother!" 

It isn't until a few minutes later that the door opens again, and a heavier pair of footsteps comes in, and then she sees a face hovering over her.

He is handsome, long and unruly brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, stray strands sticking out everywhere, and his skin is a warm shade of gold, almost as if the sun goddess herself had come down from the heavens to kiss his flesh. He has dark, almond shaped eyes, and a sharp nose set above a pair of thin lips. His face is nice, but at the moment it is painted with concern.

"You're finally awake," he says, and she can only stare up at him in awe.

"How do you feel?"

She licks her chapped lips and suddenly her throat feels dry. She opens her mouth to speak.

"W-water."

The man looks confused but his eyes quickly widen as he realizes. "Oh!"

He leaves her view only for a moment as he is soon back with a glass.

He moves to hold it to her lips but she moves her head away, her cheek hitting the hard sheet that she is lying on; she can tell that she's lying on the floor.

"Unwrap me," she croaks out, and he takes a moment to think. He looks amused.

"You're not strong enough to wiggle out yourself?"

She gives him a sideways glare.

"I guess you have been out for three days. It's a miracle you even survived that fall, let alone the freezing waters."

"Unwrap me," she says again, closing her eyes. "Please."

He sets down the glass. "Alright."

He props her up against his shoulder and she can smell sweat and something close to tea coming off of him. His arm is muscular beneath her, his fingers long and slender as they reach in between the fabric that wraps her, and in one small movement the blankets fall away, and she is relieved to find that she is dressed underneath though not in her own clothes.

She scrambles away from him as soon as she is free, until her back hits the wall, and the floorboards creak wildly under her weight.

"Hey—" he tries saying, moving towards her.

"Don't touch me!" she yells, and he stops in his place. "Don't come near me."

He looks surprised but quickly schools his emotions, putting on a placating smile. She doesn't like it.

"You're Hoshidan, aren't you?" she accuses, and his face flickers with an emotion close to pain.

"Yes..."

"And you're going to kill me...aren't you?"

At this his eyebrows lift in surprise but then he starts laughing, a deep and hearty laugh. She almost laughs herself—somewhat out of fear, somewhat out of astonishment.

"Is that what you really think?" he asks, incredulous. When she doesn't answer, he looks at her in disbelief. "Why would we fish your body out from the river and keep you alive for three days if we were just going to kill you when you woke up?"

She doesn't say anything and instead looks down. The shirt she is wearing is too big, the sweatpants too high above her ankles. She bites the inside of her cheek, wondering who dressed her and praying to whatever god that was out there that it was not this man.

"If you come with me, there's someone who can explain what's going on." He stands, taking a step towards her and offering his hand.

She remembers falling in an alley, and a certain blond boy offering his hand just as this man has.

She pushes the hand away, using the wall to pull herself up. She stares at him and, after a moment, he drops his hand and walks towards the door _sliding_ it open and stepping out into the hall, waiting for her.

The wooden floor creaks beneath her bare feet as she slowly makes her way towards the door, inspecting it as she passes through.

"Aren't your feet cold?" the man asks. She shakes her head, not bothering to look at him and not wanting to see a mocking face. "I can get you a pair of socks, or some slippers if you'd like."

She shakes her head again, scrunching together her eyebrows. "I prefer to be barefoot."

He laughs that soothing laugh again, sliding the door shut behind her once more. 

"You were like that when you were younger, too."

She isn't sure she's heard him right but he brushes past her and down the hall before she can question the comment. She is forced to follow him—perhaps not physically, but something in her moves her feet without permission; she takes the time to soak in her surroundings, taking note of how wood runs through the whole house, and how she sees only neutral colors, though somehow they still seem bright.

She stares at the back of his head, hoping he will turn around and just kill her now with that mocking smile she's sure he has.

"Where is the person that was in the room with me?" she asks, hoping to find some sort of diversion to escape the cold reality of her fate.

He doesn't turn around as he answers, "Out on an errand."

"You don't look like a mother," she says, and he chuckles at that.

"I was closer than our mom was to you, so I just came instead."

"So that person is your sibling."

"Younger sister, yes."

She stops walking to think about her younger sister, Elise, and whether or not her family thought she was dead. She looks at this man's back warily, wondering how he could be so seemingly kind when he was a Hoshidan and her death was inevitable and in the hands of her captors.

When he doesn't hear her following he also stops to turn around and look at her.

"What's wrong?"

She wants to laugh in his face. What _wasn't_ wrong? Here she is, in enemy territory following a man she has just met blindly into the den of what was most likely a blood thirsty and very hungry predator. Oh, many things were wrong, _everything_ was wrong, but she has no other options than to walk calmly into destiny's trap—or at least that's what she tells herself.

If she was unable to defend herself in Nohr, then she shall take the punishment that has been given to her; she will fulfill her sentence.

He takes a step towards her and she stares him down as she steps back.

"What is your name?"

The look on his face turns from concern to pained to flat then back to that smile that must be faked.

"Ryoma," he tells her, looking at her as if he expects that name to do something. She just stands there dumbly. He doesn't ask for hers.

He sighs before turning back around and walking down the hall once again, and she follows, shuffling her bare feet across the wooden floors, taking purposefully long and slow steps, dragging the top of her big toe across the rough surface. The knuckles of her toes will run raw, her older sister had told her once, and now seemed as good a time as any for them to do so.

She burns holes into his back as he turns a corner, walking down an equally as long hall. She's bewildered that he trusts her enough to lead so far ahead, to leave her so far behind, and an idea springs forth from her mind.

She throws her arms behind her back, clasping her hands together, and slows her pace even more, allowing him to get further and further. He says something but she can't hear it—nor does she really care—as she stops completely, watching him for a moment more before turning the opposite way and bolting down the hall.

That is, she would've been bolting down the hall had it not been for the body not nearly two feet behind her, sturdy and unmoving in its place as she almost collides with it, meeting the assailant face to face.

She lets out a scream as she falls back onto her butt, trying to clamber away from the person, only to back up into another pair of legs. She looks up meekly to find the man named Ryoma there, arms crossed and face sour.

She looks back up to the other person, a woman with long and dark hair pulled back neatly into a ponytail, with dark and sharp eyes to match. She looks down at her with little to no emotion on her face, and Corrin swallows.

"It would be wise to follow Ryoma," she says, and Corrin immediately recognizes her voice as one from the room earlier.

Corrin looks at her wide eyed.

"Thank you, Kagero," Ryoma says behind her, and suddenly she feels a strong hand placed around her upper arm, almost roughly pulling her back up. "But we're almost to Mother's study."

The woman—Kagero—nods before turning the corner. Ryoma quickly tugs on her arm, and before she turns the opposite way fully to follow him, she thinks she catches the smallest flicker of dark hair peeking out from the corner.

"Who was that?"

"Someone that works for me."

She scowls.

Ryoma tugs her two more feet before she yanks her arm out of his hand, clenching her fists as he allows her to, and leads her to the end of the hall where another sliding door awaits.

Ryoma gently knocks on the wall beside it and the sound of rustling paper and a voice calling out, "Come in," fills her ears. She can hear the clinking of china cups being placed on tiny china plates, and she feels her throat dry up and her stomach rumble. She crosses her arms over her abdomen.

He steps aside as he slides the door open carefully, nodding his head for her to enter first, and when she steps into the room she sees three people drinking tea, two sitting on a couch and one sitting on the arm of it.

A tanned and muscular woman with contrasting and startling white hair looks up from her cup with a scowl, though her face softens for just a moment when she sees her. Bandaids cover the knuckles of her thick fingers and a wad of gauze is taped to the side of her neck. Her lips form a straight line as she looks back down at her tea.

Next to her on the couch is a man, tall even while he is sitting. Long and bruised fingers scratch at his head full of dull green hair, and wide eyes of a demure purple color look up at her. She notices that his feet and shins are wrapped up in bandages; it was obvious that he had tried to conceal them with longer socks but the length didn't quite reach the top.

And on the arm of the sofa is another woman, a bright smile on her face as she looks at the room's two new occupants. Her hair is a shade close to mauve, with eyes sparkling so brightly and vibrantly to match. She immediately sets her cup down on its saucer and jumps up from her spot as Ryoma enters the room behind Corrin.

Ryoma looks around and then frowns.

"Where's Mom?"

"She went down to the kitchen," the girl replies, and she holds up an empty cup to Ryoma, though he shakes his head.

"I'll go fetch her," the muscular woman says, moving to place her cup on the low table in front of her before being interrupted by an amusing laughter.

Corrin looks to see that the woman who was sitting on the arm of the chair had done it, perfect white teeth filling her mouth as she looks over at the other woman.

"Fetching is for dogs," she jokes, but she is the only one laughing, though the green haired man does look slightly amused by it. She walks over to the door, Ryoma still standing near it. " _I_ shall _fetch_ her for you."

"Thank you," Ryoma says, and she quickly leaves.

The room is awkwardly silent as Corrin shifts on her feet in front of these two new strangers, looking around at the books and papers lying about on the ground. There is only one bookcase that reaches from ceiling to floor, and most of the books are missing from the shelves. She tries reading the spines from her spot; some she can see but others seem to be in a completely different language. She looks over to the two on the couch again, and both are staring at her.

"I see you two are doing better," Ryoma speaks up, and both of them look down at their hands.

"You could say that," the man says, and the woman huffs next to him before picking her cup back up and taking a long sip.

"How is Saizo?" the man asks, and a small smile crosses Ryoma's face.

"Mostly back to his usual self, if not a little crankier than normal. He and Kagero were up and about this morning running errands."

"I heard he was harassing the little one today."

"Kagero sent him to her for a bandage change. She doesn't really like talking to the older members here—or anyone really."

"Neither does Saizo," the man pauses to take a long drink from his cup before looking back at Ryoma. "Wounds are good?"

"Much better. He's a fast healer I would say."

"More like he doesn't like to be idle."

Ryoma chuckles. "Isn't that the truth."

Corrin decides to speak up, interrupting their peculiar conversation. "What happened to your friend? Who's Saizo?"

"Saizo is my brother," the man says, leaning forward to set his empty cup onto the low table, the woman next to him refilling her own, stifling a laugh. "You may remember shooting him."

Corrin feels her entire body turn cold, and she is sure all of the color has drained from her face as the man looks at her expectantly.

"I—"

"It's fine," he says, and she is surprised to see the smallest hint of an endearing smile cross his face. "He probably deserved it."

She sees Ryoma look over at her as she takes a small step behind him, shielding herself from the frightening stares these Hoshidans have only been able to give her.

"You were probably scared," the man continues, rolling his ankles in front of him. "It's understandable."

Corrin is unable to respond as the sliding door opens once again, that woman's bright smile almost blinding, as she steps aside to let someone else through.

And the next woman who comes through—or rather she stops in the doorway once she sees her—is one of the most beautiful people she's ever seen.

Long and flowing black hair that holds such an ethereal gleam to it is braided back behind her ears and pulled up into a slick ponytail, stick straight but voluminous and cascading down her back.

Her eyes are dark yet warm, and when she places her eyes on Corrin, an enthralling smile crosses her face. Corrin finds herself wanting to trust this woman, even though she knows she ought not.

The woman lets out a cry of relief, and rushes into the room and straight towards Corrin, outstretching her arms and quickly enveloping her into her slender arms.

"Kamui!"

Corrin stiffens in the woman's arms, her blood running cold once more; her fingers grow stiff and her arms feel limp and her heart nearly starts beating as she feels tears well up behind her eyes.

"My sweet, sweet child."

She pushes the woman away, regretting it after seeing the heartbroken look on her face.

"It's been so long," the woman says, and Corrin notices that quiet tears trail down the woman's face, but her smile remains brilliant.

"What are you talking about?" Corrin asks, taking a step back as the woman tries approaching her.

The woman looks devastated.

"Do you not remember who I am?" She places a hand over her chest, and then gestures to Ryoma. "Who he is?"

Corrin stares at her dumbly, barely able to shake her head. The woman directs herself towards Ryoma.

"Has no one told her anything?"

"Well—"

"No," Corrin cuts in, silencing Ryoma with the icy tone she says it with.

The woman sadly casts her eyes downward, and the man on the couch quickly stands, moving to the door where the other woman from early stands.

"Perhaps you should sit down," she says, and weirdly enough, Corrin can't help but oblige.

She sits down on the sofa and finds it oddly comfortable, much more so than the stiff parlor couches she had at home.

Home. She wonders if she'll ever see it again, if she'll ever see _them_ again.

She watches as the woman sits at the low table in front of her, carefully pouring a cup and placing it in front of Corrin, then one for Ryoma as he sits beside her on the floor.

"Well, Kamui, you are in Hoshido."

She furrows her eyebrows at the name.

"Yes."

"And you are with a very important family."

She knew her family was important, that much was obvious. She obviously wouldn't have been kidnapped if she wasn't.

"Okay."

"And we know you've been staying with—"

"Mother, please just get to the point," Ryoma interrupts, and the woman gives him a sad smile. She takes a deep breath.

"My child," she says, giving her a sad look. "When you were younger, you were taken by Nohr. I am your mother, Mikoto. I never thought I'd see you again."

Corrin feels her back stiffen, sitting ram rod straight. Her mother had died long ago, during childbirth, that is what Father had told her.

Corrin feels herself grow angry. These dirty Hoshidans were lying to her.

"My father's name is Garon and he lives in Nohr. You are not my mother; none of what you're saying is making sense!"

"Kamui—"

"And that's not my name!"

She can tell that something shatters in Mikoto. She is unable to speak, gripping her tea cup tightly, and Corrin just feels like her mind is swimming.

The room grows quiet for some odd minutes, and Corrin can only stare at this imposter.

"What she's saying is the truth," Ryoma speaks up, and Corrin feels the woman next to her shift uncomfortably, having forgotten that she was there. "I'm your older brother."

Corrin shakes her head, her throat tightening.

"No...No. Xander is my older brother...And Leo and Camilla and Elise are my siblings."

"Are those the Nohrian royals?" he asks, almost scoffing. "They are not your real family. In fact, I still remember the day you were taken. Back then, Hoshido and Nohr's turf war had been tame. Little skirmishes here and there, the occasional bar fight by an outsider. Garon claimed to have wanted to end that, before things got out of hand, but do you know what he did?"

Corrin just stares at him, her eyebrows hurting from being scrunched together for so long.

"He lured our father to the border in Nohr, saying he wanted to make peace. Ha! He really just wanted to murder him, in cold blood!"

Corrin feels herself shaking her head, knocking a few tears loose from her eyes. She tries focusing on anything besides this awful liar in front of her. The woman besides her on the couch, the man and the woman whispering at the door, the creaking of wood as someone walks throughout this house, perhaps that woman from the hallway. She tries focusing on anything but this, yet she can't. She can't help but listen to the lies. None of what he was saying is true.

"And what's even worse...he kidnapped you."

"That's not possible," she says, looking down at her lap, placing her hands on her knees. "It's not true..."

"Do you really not remember any of this?" Ryoma asks.

"No...I don't remember much of my childhood."

She can remember playing with her siblings, riding on Xander's shoulders around their neighborhood whenever she was sick, helping Camilla bake cookies for a fundraiser when she was still in high school, pushing Leo into the mud after it had just rained, brushing out Elise's hair after Leo had pushed _her_ in. These were the ones she remembered, but there was one that picked at the back her mind, aching to be let back in.

A dark night, cracked pavement of the street, two men in front of her, shouting. She shakes the thought from her head without even thinking, looking up to see the two in front of her looking at her expectantly.

"Nothing."

They both look crestfallen. Mikoto sighs and Ryoma shakes his head.

"I doubt that the Nohrians would share any of this with you," he says, a softer look taking place on his face. "I know it's a lot to take in."

She looks down at the wooden floor, rubbing the pads of her toes over them again and again, hoping she will run them raw.

Someone knocks on the door and the green haired man opens it and steps out, talking quietly with another man who appears on the other side.

Corrin looks around at the two woman who had been in this room when she had first entered, and she directs her question towards Mikoto.

"Who are these people?" she asks, but before Mikoto can answer, Ryoma speaks up for her.

"Beside you is Rinkah," he says nodding towards the woman. Corrin looks over at her, but she just glares into her cup of tea. "And the man is Kaze. They're the ones who fished you out of the river and brought you back here."

"Oh," Corrin says quietly, and she looks at the woman besides her and whispers a quick "Thank you".

The woman with the bright eyes from early still stands by the door, but she holds a hand up in a wave and takes a step towards the couch, her smile wide.

"And I'm—"

The door slides open quickly and Kaze reenters the room, accidentally bumping into the woman. He has a worried look on his face.

"Ryoma, Miss Mikoto."

"Yes, Kaze?" Mikoto says.

"There's attacks from the north."

Ryoma stands abruptly, spilling his cup of tea.

"Hinoka and Sakura are there right now!"

"I know. I've just been told that they're trying to help get the civilians to safety."

Ryoma stoops down to pick his cup back up, and then he goes over to floor behind the couch, Corrin watching him precariously and he picks a jacket up off the floor.

"I'm going out to help them, Mother."

Mikoto nods.

"Corrin," he says, turning towards her. "Will you come with me? I want you to see with your own eyes what these Nohrians do."

Corrin looks over at Mikoto, but she's too busy wiping up the spilt tea. She looks back at Ryoma, who is already waiting at the door.

"I would like to come with you," Rinkah says, standing up and moving towards him.

"So would I," Kaze agrees, smiling at the man. The woman beside him frowns, though only for a moment.

"Well," Ryoma look at her. "Will you be coming."

What Nohrians do? She wants to roll her eyes. Just look at what these Hoshidans have already done.

She stands up from her seat wearily, looking at each face in front of her, but ultimately landing on Ryoma's, her big brother.

"I'll come."

Ryoma smiles and Rinkah and Kaze file out the room, Kaze stopping to say something to the bright woman.

"Children," Corrin hears from behind her. Mikoto doesn't look up from her chore, but she offers up her voice anyways. "Do be careful, alright?"

"Of course," Ryoma says, and Corrin can only stare at her.

Mother.

"Let's go, Kamui," she hears Ryoma say, and when she walks past him she gives him a fleeting glance, a wishful glare.

"That's not my name," she whispers, bitterness creeping up her throat.

How could she ever trust Hoshidans enough to follow them into territory unfamiliar to her? She's not sure but she walks with them anyways, back down the wooden halls. She wonders what horrors they will try to convince her Nohr has made, but she knows it's a lie. It's all a lie.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and she's shaken from her thoughts as Ryoma stops her and pulls her towards a door, opening it to reveal another messy room, this one she can't tell whether it's a boys or a girls, but it was obvious someone had left in a hurry.

Ryoma motions for her to stay in the hall. What secrets could be hiding in here? He turns to give her a lopsided smile, looking down at her feet.

"Before we leave, let's find you some shoes."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I was using Kamui so the hopefully I got all the Corrins; Kamui will be saved for something later ;). It's a small and short start but I promise it will get more interesting/better the further we get into it. More characters will make an appearance and idk if I'll include any couples, I have no idea who to ship so if anyone has any suggestions I might be inclined to take them. Thanks for reading though, I hope you stick around.


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